This book tells you everything you need to know about the preparation, cultivation, and maintenance of a garden, be it large or small, lawn or terrace, or even just a windowbox, and provides indispensable advice both for fair-weather gardeners and for those who garden at every opportunity, whatever the weather.

The book is divided into four broad sections: earth, air, water and plant alchemy. Earth covers everything from newfangled ways of making compost to tips for ageing terracotta, and examines pest control techniques, both ancient and modern. The section on Air deals with topics as varied as plants that thrive in shade, how to create an old-fashioned hot bed greenhouse and how best to store garden produce. Water consists of ways of preserving what is fast becoming our most precious resource and how to use it effectively in the garden. Finally, plant alchemy begins with the art of companion planting – where one species appears to protect another against attack or disease.